


The Symphony of Hadestown

by supercantaloupe



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Post-Canon, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 23:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercantaloupe/pseuds/supercantaloupe
Summary: An old god looks out upon his realm and an old song fills his chest, brought in on the winds of change.





	The Symphony of Hadestown

After Orpheus fails, he leaves Hadestown, alone, but he never forgets what happened. Nor do those down below.

The foreman, sitting exhausted on his chair, holds his head in his hand and sighs, when something catches his ear. 

The warbling of a songbird calling for its mate.

A chorus, joining in.

The king stands and moves outside, looks out upon his workers. 

They move, swinging their axes in time, the clanging of metal against stone ringing in the air. 

One little canary in the middle, working, singing; the rest following her, a call-and-response. A work song, a ballad. A story of love and loss and hope. It kept them together. It kept them alive. It kept them going.

No man has a heart of stone. Even the king of the underworld bows sooner or later to the power of desire, hope, love; the force of music. He sees his wife, standing and looking out over the workers, standing in her mother’s garden. The whistle of a songbird on her lips, in his heart.

The music continues, long after Orpheus leaves Hadestown. And long years later, it greets him when he returns.

**Author's Note:**

> I headcanon that Orpheus, despite failing to save Eurydice, does in fact succeed at least in leaving an impact on Hadestown; that is, the legacy of his and Eurydice's struggle, and bringing the gift of music back to inspire the workers and keep the rust belt rolling. 
> 
> I originally wrote this out just to explain the headcanon but it turned into a short and loose creative piece so I decided to go with it.


End file.
